Description

Pre-event planning is a purposely, thoughtful process, building upon the foundation established within Phase 1: Strategy. This preparation is critical for what will ultimately be the rapid and radical improvement deployed in Phase 3: Event execution. Any oversight at the planning juncture will greatly reduce the effectiveness of the kaizen event from the perspective of achieving sustainable results and employee development and engagement. Effective pre-event planning requires the execution of four fundamental planning sub-processes: event selection and definition, communications, pre-work, and logistics. Deliverables from the pre-event planning include: kaizen event area profile, kaizen event schedule at-a-glance, and kaizen event target sheet or kaizen event mission. Care must be taken to ensure that pre-planning and any related pre-work do not design a solution. These activities are to facilitate and enable kaizen team effectiveness, not prescribe specific countermeasures and improvement ideas, which are the responsibility of the team during the execution phase of the event.